New Family
by WaterlooRoadFanForever
Summary: Vix and Nikki are happily living together (Nikki never cheated with Hector) Eve comes around to visit often and they don't think they need anything else but when an unlikely person needs a place to stay ..could this be the beginning of something?
1. Chapter 1 - Homeless

Hope you like this new story the picture is credited to waterlooroad-fan-98 who edited for me and I love it!

New Family

Chapter 1 - Homeless

The brunette women walked down the streets of Greenock to go get some supplies she was running low on, her handbag around her waist firmly and her hair tied back in a tiny ponytail, she was a few blocks away from the supermarket when it started to rain.

"Oh damn it" she said as she had not brought an umbrella with her

She sped up her walking to get out the rain, and as usual the streets were full of begging homeless people, Nikki didn't usually pay them much attention sure she gave them money but their faces never stayed in her head...but today someone's would.

She turned the corner trying to hurry inside the shop as the rain got worse when she noticed someone sitting in a doorway of a shop she carried on walking thinking she was going crazy it couldn't be who she thought it was but she ended up turning back as she had to know for sure.

"Barry?"

Barry was sat in the doorway with his jacket zipped all the way up and his arms wrapped around himself trying to keep warm, he looked pretty much the same except the stubble he had now was a lot worse and he looked pale and ill and tired.

When Nikki called his name he looked at her but then turned away, he hated Nikki as she had being the one to cause the loss of his family in his opinion.

"What you doing out here?"

"I live here" he said still not looking at her

Nikki noticed his voice was quiet and croaky as if he had a bad cold

"Barry what do you mean you live here don't you have any friends you can stay with?"

He shakes his head and shivers

"Right you are coming back to mine"

"No leave me alone"

"Barry its not safe out here"

"I SAID GO AWAY"

She bend down in front of him

"Barry you will die out here"

"Well no one would care anyway"

"That's not true Barry"

He started coughing bad, its chesty and his breathing goes rapid Nikki helped him stand up and lead him away, Barry didn't object as he was too weak.

"Right Barry you are staying at mine ok?"

He nods and gets in the passenger seat of Nikki's car as she put her foot on the gas driving off


	2. Chapter 2 - New Home

Chapter 2 – New Home

Nikki drove home as Barry sat leaning his head against his arm on the window, neither of them had talked since they got in the car as they didn't know each other very well and didn't know what to say

Nikki pulled up in the driveway of her and Vix's house and parked the car, Barry got out and followed her to the front door where Nikki unlocked the door and they stepped into the hall.

"Right I will show you your room"

Barry said nothing and just followed her up the stairs, Nikki was shocked Barry was never quiet but she had a feeling he was a lot different at home than school

Nikki opened the door to the spare bedroom where Eve usually slept when she was up, Barry walked in and sat on the bed.

"You hungry?"

He shrugged and Nikki closed the door leaving him alone she figured he didn't eat when he was on the streets so she made him a sandwich and took it up knocking on his door she put the sandwich and a drink next to him, she leaned against the door watching at first he just stared at the food but then got up and started eating.

"Right eat that and then you can go for a shower..I will find you some clothes"

He nodded and carried on eating

Now this was this bit that was going to be a problem, neither Nikki or Vix had a son or any brothers, so had no hand me down clothes, Nikki decided to ring Simon to see if he could help her out, Simon said he would find some old clothes and bring them round which took a worry of Nikki's mind.

"Hey Nikki"

Nikki heard the door unlock as her fiancé Vix waked into the house who had being out with her sister Sue, she went down the stairs and into the hall to greet her.

"Hey Vix" she kissed her gently "How was lunch with Sue?"

"Good we don't normally get to spend time together anymore"

"Erm babe…I had to bring Barry Barry back here"

She looked shocked "THE Barry Barry"

"How many Barry Barrys do u know?. He was homeless living on the street I had no choice"

"I thought he was staying with friends or something?"

"Well apparently not he was living in the doorway of a shop, took a lot of convincing to get him here though"

"Where is he?"

"In Eve's room he's ok there for the time being"

"Nikki you know I feel sorry for him but he brought it on himself"

"I know and I know he's hard work but we can try help him its his choice whether he accepts it or n..

Barry stomped down the stairs loudly as he heard talking

"Barry you know Vix right?"

"Im not living with a bunch of Lezzas…im out of here"

Nikki and Vix had to smile …It was definitely Barry

"Oh well you can live with Mr and Mrs Lowsley if you want"

"No way I not living with her no way"

"Right well I'm afraid its here or the street"

"Fine I will stay"

"Good im going to book you a doctors appointment for that cough"

"I'm not going no doctors"

"You might be ill"

"I'm fine" *coughs loudly*…so can I go for that shower?"

"Wait a bit Mr Lowsley is coming round with clothes"

Barry wasn't listening he was busy looking around the pictures on the mantelpiece and inspecting the house. Nikki looked at Vix smirking.

The doorbell rang Vix went to answer it and Simon walked in with a big bin bag of things. Barry turned to look

"Hi Barry"

He didn't respond and just sat on the sofa texting

"Right here is clothes and some other things he might need till you can buy him stuff"

"Thanks Si"

He smiled and turned to leave "Bye Barry"

He didn't even look up this time and Simon rolled his eyes and walked out but stopped in the doorway.

"Do you two have any idea what you are getting yourselves into?"

"I'm sure we will be fine once he has settled in"

"Rather you than me …bye"

He left and drove off in his car, Vix looked in the bag Simon had brought there was old jeans and t-shirts and shirts, they were a bit worse for wear but would do for now.

Nikki wanted to talk to Barry about the situation but would wait till he had had a shower, there must be some things he is hiding to explain his behaviour the hardest part would be getting him to open up.


	3. Chapter 3 - Barry

Chapter 3 – Barry

It had being 2 days since Barry had gone to live with Nikki and Vix and already they were stressed out, he was very demanding and was always arguing with them over the smallest thing, then take into account him playing music at 4 in the morning when they had work the next day and you could see where they were coming from.

Vix and Nikki had decided they were going to do what no other teacher had tried before…talking to him. As soon as Barry joined Waterloo Road he was written off as a troublemaker, both his sisters and even his mum were given the help they needed but somehow Barry had always being left out of the picture, as the teachers didn't want the hassle of having to deal with him or simply didn't know how to help, by doing this he was allowed to fall further and further down into crime and into trouble until he almost ended up in prison at the end of last year and he has now lost all sense of right and wrong.

Nikki and Vix wanted to help him change his ways before its to late and he is locked in a cell, they weren't expecting the perfect child but maybe they could help him deal with his problems.

Nikki and Vix walked upstairs, Barry was screaming at someone on the phone and threatening them, Barry had temper problems he could turn anger easily and would scream and shout and have tantrums, no one currently knew why he couldn't control his anger.

Vix walked into the room and took the phone off him hanging up

"WHAT YOU DOING I WAS TALKING YOU STUPID IDIOT"

Nikki was more acquitted to deal with Barry than Vix as she had being in the army and had to deal with all sorts.

"OI CALM DOWN"

He got angry and punched the wall and his knuckles started to bleed but they couldn't help him in this state, they left him in his room when he was like this for a few hours till he calmed down or fall asleep.

Nikki had got Barry's file from the school and was reading through it, the school knew quite a lot about his families background and for this reason they hadn't read his file, both Vix and Nikki were sitting down and started to read it, it had all the usual information: Name, Date of Birth which they found out was 7th of September, Gender, Address..there was 8 addresses there 3 from Liverpool and 5 from Scotland, this was one reason he must act up the poor boy had no time to settle down and he chose not to settle as if he did he would be made to move away again.

"Look Nikki his dad has being in and out of prison since the day he was born for petty crimes like stealing but got 10 years when he was involved in an armed robbery"

Another reason he must act up he had no male influence in his life and the one he did have was constantly being lead away in handcuffs he must be so confused how is he supposed to know what is a normal way to act, it doesn't help the rest of his family are criminals as well.

They then looked at all the letters and things from old schools to see what he had done he had being in trouble for attacking teachers, attacking pupils, throwing things such as chairs, bunking off, abusive language, sexual harassment, and that was only naming a few some of the letters were dated years back where he must have being about 6.

They couldn't hear Barry right now so they went to check on him, he was lying on his bed but had his eyes open and was calm, Nikki and Vix realised Barry had two moods: anger and calm…there was no in-between he was either flipping out attacking everything in sight or was shy and would hardly talk he could change moods at the click of a finger which wasn't normal for a child.

"Hey Barry"

They each sat on one side of his bed he smiled slightly but said nothing they looked at his bleeding knuckles and started cleaning them, no one spoke it was spookly silent.

The strangest thing was that Barry didn't sleep he would still be up at six in the morning without his eyes ever being closed, this might be because he was scared of what he would see when he was sleeping, he was never asleep in the morning when they checked on him either and they didn't know when the last time he slept properly was. He stayed awake as he drank a lot of coffee everyday.

Would they be able to get him to talk though? They had tried already he would start to say something then close up more than he did before.


	4. Chapter 4 - Self-Harm

Chapter 4 – Self-Harm

Barry, Vix and Nikki were eating lasagne for dinner; Barry was starting to become a bit more comfortable though he still didn't talk to them much. Nikki and Vix had not lived with men in years and they were shocked at the extent Barry ate, he seemed to be constantly hungry they were worried but when they asked Simon he just said "That's guys for you" so they started to not worry as much. Barry finished eating and went upstairs leaving his plate on the table, Vix and Nikki didn't bother checking on him often when he was upstairs he was an adult and had the right to privacy when he wanted it.

Barry walked into his room closing the door, it didn't have a lock on it but he knew that they wouldn't bother him. He kneeled on the floor getting a box from under his bed and sat on the floor opening it. Inside was a sharp blade, as well as tissues to clean away access blood and bandages in case the cuts were very deep. He took the blade out carefully and put it next to him on the floor. He then rolled the sleeve off his leather jacket up slowly revealing the cuts that were already there, he ran his finger over them gently and felt the bumpy feeling of the cuts. He then picked up the blade and slowly pushed it into his arm running it along his forearm making a long scar, for a moment it looked like nothing had even happened but then the blood started to flow out and he bit his lip as the pain started, he pushed the blade in deeper and ran it along his arm again. He did it even deeper, deeper than he had ever gone and started to feel queasy, he was worried he had never felt queasy before, his arm was bleeding a lot more than it normally was and he stood up to go to the bathroom to clean it, his stomach started to hurt bad and he fell on the floor collapsing.

Nikki and Vix were cuddling on the sofa, Barry was quiet again which wasn't unusual he usually was when he was in his room, they laughed and kissed each other but then heard a loud thud come from upstairs, they pulled away.

"What was that noise?" said Vix

"I have no idea"….Barry….Barry are you ok?"

No one replied and they started to climb the stairs

"Barry? What was that noise?" said Nikki knocking on his bedroom door

Still no one replied so they opened his door

He was lying on the floor unconscious with his bloody arm still exposed, they saw him and ran in the room

"Barry…BARRY can you hear me?"

That was when they noticed his arm and Vix put her hand over her mouth "What's he done?"

"Babe call an ambulance"

Vix got her mobile out and called an ambulance as Nikki looked at his face closely trying to see any sign of life in him she checked his pulse on his neck and was relieved to see he was breathing. After Vix called the ambulance she kneeled next to him and saw the blade.

"Nikki look" she held up the offensive shining object as she put it in her pocket to deposit of later

"How long has he being doing this?"

"I don't know I had no idea"

They heard sirens and Nikki ran down the stairs to let the paramedics in

"He's upstairs help him please"

They go upstairs and after checking him over take him down to go in the ambulance, because they were both caring for him they were both allowed in the ambulance.

When they got to the hospital they took him in to sort him out as Nikki and Vix were made to wait outside, they hadn't noticed the signs of Barry self-harming but the doctors seemed to know him as they kept saying they hadn't expected to see him again so soon, as we were waiting a female doctor came to talk to us as we requested to talk to a doctor about his past hospital experiences she said confidentiality meant she couldn't talk about it unless Barry agreed to let us know, we told her we were his carers and we needed to know in order to help him.

"If you get caught I was never here" she handed us his hospital file and walked off

We opened it and read about his medical history he has being in hospital over six times in the last three years due to self –harm, fights he had being in which resulted in injuries and he had attempted suicide twice. Vix and Nikki looked at each other concerned they never knew he was like this he always seemed so in control.


	5. Chapter 5 - Illness

Chapter 5 - Illness

Barry had being released from hospital and had gone back to school after a lot of time convicting Christine to let him back. He still had very severe behaviour problems because of this Nikki, Christine and Vix had come up with a solution. They assigned him a teacher who would be with him in lessons so they could help him with his work and his dyslexia. Christine agreed that even if he did show challenging behaviour they won't throw him out as they want to work with him to change his behavior, only if he did something that could cause a lot of harm to the other pupils would they be forced to make him leave.

Already that morning before class had started Barry had hit a year seven who was winding him up….

Barry was sat on the steps outside school waiting to go in, Nikki had gone in early for a meeting and Vix was going to stay at the school for a bit to help with Barry's behavior, one of the little year seven boys was playing football and accidentally kicked it at Barry's leg, he stood up and hit him round the face as the child started to cry and ran off, Tom who had seen what happened approached Barry and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Right you in now" Barry was fighting with him and swearing

"Get off me!"

Tom took him to the cooler and walked out

When Nikki and Vix found out they went to talk to him but he looked down humming loudly

The new teacher, Phoenix arrived along with a new idea 'awarding good behaviour' if Barry had something to look forward too he will be willing to change his ways, this could mean allowing some time on the computer or on his phone.

When Barry was told about Phoenix he didn't respond but didn't look happy about it. He wasn't paying attention to the work and kept slacking off.

At break he was free from Phoenix but didn't come back when their lesson restarted, Vix was In the staffroom when the Phoenix ran in"

"Come quick bring Nikki"

They ran to the library where Barry was having a tantrum and knocking the books over

"BARRY"

Phoenix was also there to teach Nikki and Vix how to deal with his behaviour

"Don't shout at him it would just make him more angry and agitated"

He told them to try a calm approach, Barry was knocking everything over and making a mess Nikki was mad at him doing this but walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder calmly

"Barry we need to calm down ok"

He was making a weird noise and didn't say anything; Nikki noticed his eyes looked strange

"Barry have you taken anything"

He continued to make the noise and swinging his arms so Nikki sat him down gently, but it was like he wasn't aware of her presence, Nikki started searching his pockets but it made him angrier so she stopped.

She was stood up bending down to talking to him

"Get to his level he finds it intimidating when you do that"

She bend down looking at him making eye contact

"Barry what has made you upset?"

He didn't reply just made the noise

"Barry I want to help you"

"They came back for me "

"Who came back for you Barry?"

He points over to the corner of the room "they following me telling me to do stuff"

Nikki turned around but saw nothing but Barry was crying by now so he was obviously scared of something

Nikki walked over to Vix and Phoenix

"Do you think he's hallucinating?"

"He must be there is nothing there but Barry obviously has a genuine fear"

"He's obviously has taken some drug then"

"But he isn't acting drugged"

The three of them had turned away from him as they talked and when they turned back he was gone

Meanwhile Harley heard crying coming from near the stairs and was shocked when he walked behind them realising it was Barry, he wasn't himself and Harley was waving his hand over his face but he didn't even blink, Harley was worried and ran down the corridor to find help the first person he found was Maggie.

"Maggie Barry is sat behind the stairs acting strangely"

She followed Harley and found Barry

"Barry its Mrs Budgen can you hear me"

He didn't say anything

"Harley go get Miss Boston and Miss Spark please"

As he went to get them Barry put his knees to his chest and appeared to be shying away from something

"No…I won't do it….I hate you…leave me alone"

Maggie looked but saw no-one where Barry was looking but he was crying now

Vix and Nikki arrived and saw the state he was in but no longer thought it was drug related as they had seen him when he had eaten the magic mushrooms and he was different from then.

Vix bend down and looked at Barry

"Barry we are going to take you to the hospital because we are worried about you"

"Mmmmm no doctor….no see doctor"

"Barry you need help sweetheart…we will be there ok"

He didn't say anything and they helped him stand up

"Maggie I need to tell Christine and…."

"Go Nikki I will cover your classes just get Barry to the hospital, and call me when you know more"

"Of course"

They got to the hospital and were finding it hard to get Barry to stay, he kept running out the hospital which resulted in Nikki or Vix having to calmly lead him back in, his behaviour was getting more odd he kept scratching his arms and shouting at people walking by, The doctor finally came out and told them to come in they sat down.

"Right I'm going to assess him so if you two can wait outside"

"You won't hurt him will you?"

"No we are just going to find out the cause of why he is acting like this"

They waited outside they heard Barry fussing a couple of times but resisted the urge to go in. Finally after an hour the doctor came out and told them to come in, Barry was talking to a nurse clearly agitated.

"Barry has Schizophrenia"

"He has what? As in the mental illness?"

"Yes the results show he's being suffering with it for quite some time"

"Is it caused by taking drugs or?"

"Sometimes but if a person has taken drugs recently we can find traces of it for up to a year but we didn't find any in Barry's body, sometimes it just happens for no reason"

"So what's the best way forward"

"We are going to put Barry on medication and you should see an improvement, if Barry refuses to take it we will have to section him I'm afraid"

"So does he have to stay in hospital?"

"For a few days we will say yes so we can monitor him and….

"NO" they heard Barry scream

They looked over as he started to hit the nurse

"No monsters go away"

The nurse was trying to calm him but it wasn't working

"Barry if you take this medicine you will feel better"

"No you trying to poison me I won't let you"

The nurse was joined by two other doctors who held him down as the nurse put a needle in his am, Barry screamed loudly

Nikki and Vix ran to him

"Stop it you're hurting him"

"We are giving him his medicine if he refuses to take it we have to inject it"

Barry was thrawfing around now screaming and crying he was totally hysterical

"Right I think it's best if we put him to sleep for a bit"

"As long as he isn't scared like he is now" said Vix as Nikki nodded in agreement

The doctor got an oxygen mark mask and fought him to put it on him but he eventually did and Barry got groggy and fell asleep"

"If Barry refuses to take it im afraid you have to force him too, he will eventually learn its better if he just takes it himself"

"Does it run in families?"

"No it doesn't, there is no gene for it it just naturally occurs"

Vix and Nikki sat next to Barry

"You poor thing you have really being ill haven't you it wasn't attention seeking at all"

The doctor gave them an information booklet about the illness

"There are some things you two will have to learn to do"

All they hoped was they would never have to force Barry to take his medicine like they witnessed but they wouldn't get to keep that wish.


End file.
